


Hunger

by SacredMorningStar



Series: One Word Prompts [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Caduceus Clay is travelling the world, Caleb Craves Blood, Caleb is Neutral, Caleb is not an innocent, Caleb on the run, Caleb wants blood, Gen, Not A Happy Ending, One Word Prompt Hunger, One Word Prompt Meme, One Word Prompts, Vampire Caleb, one word prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29665566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SacredMorningStar/pseuds/SacredMorningStar
Summary: Vampire Caleb AUCaleb had been surviving, had been thriving, he had managed to flee and live in a village in the middle of no where. When a firbolg comes into two that changes everything, and the well managed behaviour, the control of his desires, are put to the test. Caleb doesn't expect what happens next, what mistakes he made led to the strange relief he had never knew he longed for.Written from the One Word Prompt: Hunger
Relationships: Caduceus Clay & Caleb Widogast
Series: One Word Prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2126454
Kudos: 12





	Hunger

Caleb had been managing to control his hunger, managed his desire for blood, had methods to keep his appetite sated without drawing too much attention. He had been burying it deep down, hiding himself away in his home, occupying his time with books, with knowledge, with magic and the gossip of the town he had settled himself in. At first, he had been seen as the strange one, had been seen as the peculiar stranger that seemed to hide away, someone that could never need seen in the sunlight, but that had very quickly changed when he had managed to enchant a ring to allow him to walk in the day. That had been all it took to keep him safe from a raging village when they noticed some of their people becoming sick.

It had taken a long time to learn how to control his hunger, to control the rage that came with it, how to manage the hunger and bloodlust of his kind. So many had gotten themselves killed letting their hunger get the best of them, failed to use their mind to their advantage to survive, thought less of humans as if they were only a meal, leading to them being easily found out and an angry mob at their door. Caleb was not someone who made mistakes lightly. A mistake he made could result in his exposure, in his death if not having to flee, could be far worse knowing how close the village had become with him.

It seemed though, that all his hard work on making himself a home and having control over his hunger was to be tested. There had been a new creature that moved into the village, someone looking to travel, a firbolg who had never seen the world but had been sent to explore it. He had to learn more about the magic he possessed, had been sent out to learn more about it, to widen his skills and serve somewhere in the world before he returned home with the new skills. He was naïve to the world, that much was obvious with how he scrutinised the small village and took notes of everything. He seemed to be searching for something, his adventures into the wider world recorded and noted, but there seemed to be a perceptiveness that had shown itself to Caleb the moment they met.

The vampire had been taking his evening stroll, looking for someone to draw from for the night, someone he could charm into the darkness, to find someone he could draw a meal for the next few nights. That was the first time he met the stranger, passing him in the street with a nod and small smile, only to hear a deep voice rumble in the air catching his attention. It was a hum of thought, a moment of curiosity, and Caleb turned hearing the sudden noise. He watched those pink eyes linger over him, searching him for something, and he watched the way his eyes squinted seemingly noticing something about him.

“They don’t know the danger you carry, do they? No one here knows the darkness within you. No one here knows what you do, or else you would not be here.” His tone held no ill-will or cruelty, just a simply statement and it made Caleb look around a moment to check no one else was near enough to hear them.

“And what makes you think such thing?” He had tried to push the uncertain tone out of his voice as he watched the larger being before him scrutinise him. “Why would they consider me a threat when I have done nothing to make them see me in such a way?”

As he spoke, a breeze blew across from the firbolg towards the direction of the vampire bringing a scent to his nose he had never smelled before. It was sweet, yet earthy, like the smell of a forest in spring with all the flowers in bloom after a heavy rain, and as the scent carried he picked up something he couldn’t place, he couldn’t truly compare, that brought out a hunger he hadn’t felt in such a long time. He had lived far longer than he looked, his appearance that of the age he was when he was turned, but the sudden hunger reminded him of those early days with his vampiric sire Trent Ikithon. It was a hunger that twisted his stomach, like that almost of a fledgling, and he took a moment to fight down the sudden burst of hunger that was completely unexpected.

“I would say whatever it is that I have just triggered. Although, the social isolating is often a large clue and I am often more perceptive than most.” The firbolg watched him more clearly trying to work out their next step. “I have had to learn of some of the world before I left, and that included some dangers I would face, taking interest in those who have ignored the grip of death. It seems that you might be one of these although, I am curious as to how you have stayed when most simply expose themselves. What do you plan to do here? Why exactly do you hide within this village?”

“I could ask of you the same question.” Now Caleb was on the backfoot and he did not like it. “I am unsure of what it is you expect me to say, I feel whatever I may say will simply be taken wrong, or be considered a lie, but I am not here to plot or plan anything. I am not looking to do anything with the village. Whether you believe me or not is down to you, but I am not looking to play a game, simply to do as others do.”

He frowned a moment and began to cast a spell, something that could replace the memories of the being before him, to have him forget what he had noticed, and it took a split second for his magic to take hold over the other. He noticed the last minute glace to his hand just as the spell left but it seemed it took hold and the stranger blinked for a moment as they came out of the trance. He seemed to be a little confused for a moment before cleared his throat and hummed.

“Forgive me, it seems I have grown distracted and lost what we were talking about.” The confused frown on his face lingered as he looked to the other before shaking it off again. “It seems I have disturbed your evening, forgive me.”

“There is nothing to forgive, we were talking, and it seemed something distracted you. Not an uncommon finding I have seen in the village. This is the first time we have met, I am Caleb Widogast, I believe you are the newcomer to this small little corner of the world. The people here like to talk and well, you are someone they talk of often at the moment.”

“Pleasure to make your acquaintance Mister Widogast, it seems I have drawn a lot of attention, however I am not sure I have earned it.” He nodded a little and looked to the other a moment. “Caduceus Clay, I should leave you to your evening, perhaps we might cross again.”

Caleb smiled a little and bowed his head slightly as another breeze crossed them and he turned his back to the other. He left wishing the other a pleasant evening and fought down the urger to follow the firbolg and drain is body. He managed to find one of the villagers, one he had drank from before, but knew he could make them forget it all, and he rushed them away to his home before anyone could see them or know. The man was a local drunkard, someone often found passed out in the street, so, although he tasted of sour beer, it was a great way to hide the times he drank from the man, even if he was never a pleasant meal. He had managed to take a small supply, feeling that clinging hunger pull on him, craving something sweeter, something fresher, something newer, but he couldn’t risk giving into his hunger knowing where it was drawing him.

He had drank more from the drunkard than he expected, than he planned to, and could only take enough blood to last one full meal or two light meals with the way his hunger had hit him. The pride he had in his control had failed him, it had been ruined, all in but a moment thanks to a being he had only met that night. That night, after dumping the drunkard outside his home, he spent a full night searching through the texts he’d hoarded and stole and acquired over the years trying to find what could have triggered his sudden desperate hunger. He knew the blood didn’t feel as satisfying as it usually did and as he began to look through the texts he found one that had been written long before Caleb was even born, never mind turned, that had been a previous experience in their life with a similar instance and he felt a moment of pure dread fill his core. He had lost his soul when he had been turned, he had no reason to be kind to those in the village, but he needed to survive and he merely survived, but as he read through the text he felt fear for what might come to him with this new discovery.

The sire had found a scent, something utterly and irrevocably alluring, even for the ancient being that had been around for so long, that had trained their instincts, that had survived so long, had their life utterly ruined by a scent that seemed to be like what Caleb had found with Caduceus. The sire had many children beneath him, had many they had raised to be their underlings, they had control over so many, had gained themselves a dark empire that were a powerful force, but everything had slowly begun to be torn apart by the source of the scent. They had found something that had drawn their attention, the life that carried such a sweet scent had become intoxicating, had become like a drug to one of the most powerful beings in written record. The notes had changed from simple plans, changes for the future, to obsessive desire over the being that carried the sweet scent. They wrote about draining the source, about drinking slowly, to make the delicious blood, something they had never tasted before, last as long as they could make the being last while still getting what they wanted.

The writing began to turn even more chaotic, the once elegant and royal handwriting becoming twisted and chaotic and scratchier and messier on the page. The pages were covered in more splotches of ink as if the quill hadn’t been cleared correctly of the excess as if the mind needed to write and write before forgetting in a dizzying panic. It turned to lusting for more, for needing more, for having drained the source completely, draining their life force and losing the source of the blood that he had craved like a drug, and now couldn’t find blood that soothed the hunger that had boiled deep inside his body. He felt a chill down his spine realising he knew the end of the story; only now linking it as he remembered the story Trent had told him when he sired him. It was a warning that Trent had given him, to never lose control, to not let emotions and desires get in the way of your goals. After finding the delicious meal, the vampire had grown insane in an urge to get more of the delicious blood, to soothe the desperate hunger that had taken hold, and it had driven him to insanity. He had ruined his own colony, he had grown so desperate that he had attacked his own thralls, attacked his children, had tried to drink their blood in a desperate attempt to quench his thirst, poisoning his body and only making his sickness worse until he was killed by vampires that had once been friends of the old sire.

The vampire had grown more monstrous, the skin almost shrink-wrapped to their body, their eyes sunken into their skull, their clothes barely fit his now skinnier body, tears and blood staining the clothing, looking more like a ghoul and not the elegant vampire sire he had once been. It was a horror story, something that was a warning to new bloods and sires what to be ready for and as Caleb realised the warning meant so much more to him now.

Would he turn into such a creature? Could he control his hunger for the being he met that night? Would he lose that part of him that had meant he could survive? What he had prided himself in was going to be dragged away from him because of a scent he had found so enchanting. His whole night was drawn into trying to find an answer, trying to understand what he might face, yet there was nothing to tell him, nothing to explain what he could do to free himself, and he wondered just how often such things had happened.

He had managed to avoid the firbolg in the week with his trip down to the village for a blood restock, for arranging a message to go out of the village to a companion who might have information he needed, to get food into his home to keep up appearances, but it seemed his luck was about to fail him. One of the evenings, where a bad storm seemed to suddenly hit the village, Caleb got a knock on his door drawing him up from his study when it kept going. He was stunned to find the firbolg right outside his door, thankful of the rain as it seemed to dampen the sweet scent that had lured the vampire before, yet another smell drifted across to him. There at his side were bloodstains, clearly something happened to the other as his clothes and fur was stained, and the smell of sweet iron filled the air making his body shudder a moment at the sweeter smell.

“Forgive me for disturbing, Mister Widogast, but I…I had been in the forest when the storm hit and…and you are the closest, I fear I might need some help with this.” He showed his arm where a large slice was in his skin; looking like an incredibly clean cut. “I fell in the ad weather, I must have caught something sharp, I just need a little help.”

Caleb quickly closed his mouth and nodded a little guiding the other into his home hoping to change the situation. Perhaps he could take the blood, test it, find what might be so different that could be drawing him, to see what might make the firbolg so different to everyone else in the village. He had brought the firbolg into the lounge, gathering the medical supplies he had tucked away in a cupboard, ready to enchant the firbolg and let him take the blood he needed. That all fell when his body seemed to lock up and he looked at the firbolg as he seemed to be using magic on him. He noticed now, a stick that Caduceus had been using to walk with had a gemstone glowing within it, with a painful light that seemed to push past even the enchantment of the ring.

“You had been lucky that night, it had taken some time to realise what I was missing, how I was missing it, and it took gaining some answers from my guide to realise what you had done. I had questioned that night, had wondered what exactly had happened, but it seemed I should have simply followed with my instincts on that night and follow you.” He held a sudden proud posture and the would to his arm healed as magic filled the air again. “Now, well, now I wonder how a corrupted life can be so well hidden that the humans around are willing to ignore the very core of their survival that makes them uncertain.”

“I had only been looking to survive, to live, much like others, I have said as much to you on that night.” Caleb felt the dread within him grow realising he had been found, he was trapped, and by a creature that had smelled so alluring. “I had lived her well for years, no one here has seen me as a threat. What will you do now? Obliterate my life because I am not what you consider valued life?”

“You are curse, you are a being of death, something which should be within the ground where the Wildmother can make something of you. Your life had ended and yet, you came back, have tried to live a life that is corrupted and poisonous to the world around you.” The sweet scent began to full the air again as Caduceus’ fur began to dry and Caleb had to close his eyes tightly. “Corruption of death, and the false life you have pushed yourself into is nothing more than a fantasy you are trying to make physical. You are stagnant, your timer laid on its side, the sands laid so you cannot progress, but you cannot go back either, and I am sure that you do not wish to stay stagnant and spread a corruption and corrosion.”

Caleb could feel the sweet smell taking hold of him, the scent of the firbolg luring him in, drawing his fangs out longer and turning his eyes bright red, wanting to drain the body before him as that scent filled the space. He struggled and fought against the spell that gripped his body, desperately for the blood that pumped through those veins, but only felt frustration and fury fill him as he failed to break free of the grip clinging to his body.

“You see, you cannot continue with this life, you cannot let this be your end, to let insanity take hold of you, to let this corruption only grow worse, you cannot let this be what your legacy is. I am sure who you were before would be broken to see as much of your life like this.”

“You do not know who I am, you know only who you see, you have no truth, and your well-spoken words are not enough to make me fall for whatever trick or spell you wish to use. I am not a fool, I am not going to fall for your trickery, stronger men have tried and failed to lure me in.” Caleb felt the panic rise and build before he looked for a chance to get away. “I am not like others, I am not who you think I am, but I do not doubt this will fall on deaf ears.”

“You are a vine of corruption, you are not the root, you are not the only cause but, to allow your continued existence within the world, would go against all the promises that I have set to my patron. Life is sacred, and is precious, and the corruption of such life, is a corruption of the world itself. I cannot allow you to continue, regardless of how little you have done to harm the village, perhaps your life can come back and you can return to be something greater; should you be reincarnated.”

Caleb felt the magic begin to release from his body only to watch a light begin to build on the staff. It grew, and grew, and grew, to the point where it felt like agony, like his body was on fire even with the ring on his finger, and it seemed to last forever yet only for an instant at the same time. The weight, the pressure, the fear in his lost soul seemed to be dropped, seemed to fade, and he found himself passing into a new unknown; sure of his end leading to fire and hell yet it seemed a soft light surrounded him welcoming him into a new start.


End file.
